A Growing Smile
by Samantha's Library
Summary: Annabeth Princess of Athens was cursed, as a little girl, to never smile. Only by trust and love will the curse be broken. What if Annabeth fell for the prince of, Athens' enemy kingdom, Atlantis. What if Percy, Prince of Atlantis, was the one to break her curse and fall in love with her in the process? How will this effect the enemy kingdoms? (A/N:More info inside)
1. Chapter 1 She Must Have A Smile

**Welcome everyone, to my new story! Based off (not completely though) a mix between 'The Princess Who Never Smiled' and 'Romeo and Juliet' with that Percy Jackson twist, I give you 'A Growing Smile'! I can't tell you how long I've been wanting to do something like this! **

**Don't worry 'For Freedom' fans, I can assure you they'll be a new chapter soon! Promise! I'm so sorry to keep you waiting! **

**Hope you guys like it! Tell me what you think!**

**Enjoy Chapter 1!**

Athens

Cold heartless glares, horridly depressed frowns, blank faces and a twinkle in the eyes, quiver of the lip and grinding of her teeth. There was a frown, there were blank lips, mad facial masks, pouts, bored expressions, and even an impatient bite of the lip. The Princess just didn't understand it, she was able to show all these expressions, but she could never smile, not even so much as a grin.

Her mother told her that as a child she had been cursed by a witch, but why? Why was she cursed? That's what she couldn't understand. And to take away her smile of all things! She felt happiness but she could never express it, it truly annoyed her.

Her mother and father tried anything and everything they could think of that could possibly make her smile, but it was no use, nothing broke the curse. Annabeth tried to remember what the tapestry recorded that the witch said.

_Because of your unwillingness to trust people like me, I hereby curse your baby girl to have something you'll never see. Because of your own fatal mistake, an expression of happiness she will never make. Until she finds trust the curse will remain, only through love will she suffer less pain._

It didn't make much sense did it? The two things that came to her mind when she thought about it were: _That could mean anything, witch! _And _Creepy much?!_ What love? What trust? No one in the kingdom ever trusted her without a smile. Who wasn't willing to trust the witch? It annoyed her not knowing, but not as much as it annoyed her that she couldn't smile.

Every once in a while Annabeth would sit at her mirror and try desperately to smile, she just wanted to see it, even if it was only once. But she had no idea where to even start, how does someone who has never smiled go about trying to lift her muscles? How was she supposed to know how to smile? Often she wondered how it was so easy for people to smile, it was like it came naturally to them. No matter how long she sat at that mirror trying to smile all she did was frown.

"Ugh!" she pushed herself out of her seat, knocking down the cushioned chair, and slammed her fist on the dresser. "Why is it so hard?!" she could yell all she wanted but she knew that wouldn't bring her a smile. She heard footsteps racing to her door, but she didn't turn around she just sat at her bed staring at her frustrated expression in the mirror, How come that was so easy?

The door creaked open a little and a soft voice whispered through the crack, "Is everything alright sweetheart?" Annabeth recognized the voice of her mother on the other side of the door so she turned.

"Come in." She said quietly. Her mother walked in to see her daughter's folded hands and defeated frown, over the years she had discovered the difference between her daughter's happy frown and her sad frown. Athena marched over to the bed and took a seat next to her daughter on the bed, letting out a sigh as she did so.

"Dearest?" she asked. "What the matter?" Annabeth turned her head to stare into the kind stormy grey eyes of her wise mother and almost instantly Athena knew. "You tried it again didn't you?" Athena took no comfort with Annabeth's sad nod of the head.

"I just don't understand!" Annabeth cried, exasperated. "Why did it have to be me?! Why am I forced to never smile?! How come I can't show people I care?!" Athena hugged her daughter close and tried to imagine how she could possibly be feeling, but nothing came to her.

"I know it's frustrating and I know you're angry, but you can smile, you will, there is a way to-" Athena was cut off before she could finish.

"To break the spell! I know, you've told me a million times!" Annabeth replied, jumping off the bed. "And even though it's been said, I'm still not sure there is a way." Annabeth opened the door to the balcony and resting her arms on the posts, her mother followed. "Who would trust me, I can't smile to prove myself at all, and without a smile I may as well be ugly."

"Don't say that." Athena said, picking up her daughter's chin. "I trust you, I always will, and you are beautiful, you always have been." Annabeth looked to her mother with a straight face, even though she couldn't physically Athena could feel her smile. "There, that's my bright girl!"

Annabeth laughed but without the smile it felt more like sarcastic laughing rather than humorous laughing. But Athena knew she had made her happy. "Thanks." Annabeth said. Athena would have liked nothing more than to be the one to make her daughter smile, but sadly the way things were going she knew that was very unlikely.

"Will you be coming down for lunch?" she asked.

"Of course!" Annabeth answered, giving her mother a questioning look, even though she probably meant to smile.

"See you then dear." Athena replied walking out of the room. Annabeth closed the door behind her. Even though Annabeth would give almost anything to smile, it was comforting to know that there were people who cared, and maybe somewhere out there, there was someone else who cared just as much.

…..o0o…..

As Annabeth made her way to the dining hall, she paused to admire the tapestries. One was of a war with the Electrogonians back in the first few years of Athens birth. There had been a nasty feud between Electris and Athens, very few know how it started, all they knew was now it was over and Electris and Athens are allies.

Next was a beautiful picture of Annabeth's great great great grandmother and her son planting the first seeds in what is known today as the biggest and most beautiful garden in all of the land. Past that was the first marriage of an Eletrogonian and an Athenian, after that there was one depicting of an eclipse, and another of the first trained owl held by no other then Annabeth great grandfather, Cornelius, and the history went on.

Second to the end was a realistic image of the great war between Athens and _Atlantis_, the day forever known as the day enemies were made, a lie was pulled all across the land that either the Atlantians or Athenians wanted to test the other, but the truth was it was just another mistake King Poseidon made trying to convince Athena to marry him. No one knows what he did, but apparently Poseidon did enough to tick off Annabeth's mother, and war was declared. Annabeth sidestepped to the next historical memory.

The Last one was her least favorite, the day she was cursed. The picture clearly showed the witch leaning over Annabeth's crib and glaring over at her parents. Above was the words she had said written as clear as day, Annabeth read them shuttering at every pause of a sentence.

…_Only through love will she suffer less pain…_

Annabeth hurried past the tapestry and into the dining hall, she never wanted to stare at that thing again. "It's absurd! If his son gets to marry, then surely my daughter should be able to do the same!" Annabeth paused before turning the corner, that voice was her father, what did he mean she should get married?

"There Atlantians dear," Athena reminded him. "Let's not follow in their footsteps."

"But this is the only thing that I agree on with them, it's time for us to start thinking about our children taking over the throne." King Fredrick insisted.

"She needs more time." Athena argued.

"And she'll have it!" Fredrick agreed. "After three days we'll start finding suitors."

"But what about the curse?" Athena asked. Annabeth winced, she really needed that to be haunting her forever.

"It will be broken!" Fredrick cried. "The witch said that trust and love would break it! Maybe she meant the trust and love that goes into a marriage." Annabeth hated to agree, but it did make sense. Something did plagued her mind though, _a son?_ She thought. _Poseidon has a son?_ _Why wasn't I told?_ She didn't know why she cared, but it seemed to bother her.

"Alright, we'll try." Athena gave in. "But we will only let her marry someone whom she trusts, loves, and someone whom will make her smile." Annabeth didn't hear a reply, but she knew her father was nodding his head. Quickly she rose up and around the corner as if she had just rushed down.

"Sorry," she apologized. "I got my dress stuck in the door."

"Oh, I hate that." Athena remarked. "It's such a waste of valuable time and clothing." Annabeth shrugged lightly in agreement before pulling her dress up and under her and taking a seat.

…..o0o…..

Atlantis

"I'm telling you!" Grover insisted. "She doesn't have a smile!" He was at the stables tending to horses with his good friend the prince of Atlantis.

"Nonsense!" Prince Percy replied sliding a brush across his pitch black horse, Blackjack's waist. "Every princess has a smile."

"But she doesn't have a smile and she's a princess." Grover pointed out. There was a small moment where Percy almost believed him, but he just pushed the thought aside and kept brushing Blackjack.

"Even if what you're saying was true, what, pray tell, would make you think I'd be interested?" He asked, resting an arm on Blackjack's back.

"It is true!" Grover assured. "And I just assumed you'd like the story, that's all."

Okay, now it was perfectly obvious that Grover was lying about at least one of those things, so Percy stared him straight in the eyes and said honestly, "Grover you're a horrible liar." Grover threw on a glare and folded his arms across his chest.

"Fine, if I'm such a bad liar then tell me, what did I lie about?" Grover shot back. Like an arrow to the heart that confusing question struck Percy with a blow so deep he wouldn't have been able to dig it out, no doubt the confused look on his face was what gave Grover his smug smile. "Give up?" he asked.

Percy thought really hard. "I…" then he had an idea, his last chance. He put on a smug smirk of his own and Grover's smile faded into a worried expression. "I was waiting for you to tell me." Grover look shook, he was so close to breaking, but then the smug smirk returned, back from the dead.

"Nice try." Grover said. Percy's eyelids snapped closed in defeat, he had so hoped that'd work, he opened his eyes and stared out Grover's face. Grover was convinced he had won, but the next words that flowed out of Percy's mouth weren't exactly what he was expecting.

"Why do you _really_ want me to know?" Percy asked, with a cocky smile.

Grover felt flustered and even though he knew full well the answer he had to ask. "Know what?"

"About the princess with no smile." Percy answered.

"She's beautiful." Grover admitted.

"And?" Percy made a rolling motion with his hands.

"That's it." Grover tried.

"No it's not." Percy was right it wasn't.

"She's the princess of Athens." Grover gave in. Percy had a victorious smile which soon turned into a shocked frown.

"Athens?!" Percy cried. "And she doesn't have a smile? All Athenians have a smile, they're flawless." Percy rolled his eyes at the thought, he had never met an actual Athenian per say, but he had heard the stories.

"She was cursed when she was just a baby, by a witch, it had something to do with her parent's mistrust." Grover explained.

"Cursed?" Percy asked, now extremely interested.

"Yes," Grover replied. "It's said that only by trust and love will the spell be broken."

"Interesting…" Percy said, saddling Blackjack and preparing to mount.

"What are you doing?" Grover asked, a bit of worry in his tone. Then with a shocked gasp Grover realized the answer before Percy could say. "Oh no!" he cried. "Percy, you can't be serious!"

"A princess of Athens with no smile, I have to see this." Percy replied.

"It's only a smile!" Grover cried, trying desperately to convince Percy not to mount his horse. "It's not like she's missing an arm or a leg!"

"I've never seen someone with no smile." Percy stated, ignoring Grover. He mounted Blackjack and stared off into the distance.

"You can't go to Athens!" Grover cried. "You could be recognized! You could be captured! Do you know how great a royal ransom affects a war?!"

"I'll go in disguise, no one will recognize me." Percy insisted. "Besides I'll be back in a couple days, I assure you." With that Percy nudged Blackjack and rode off.

"What will I tell your father?!" Grover yelled, practically ripping out his hair.

"Tell him, I went exploring!" Percy yelled back. Grover glared in Percy's direction until he was nothing more than a dot in the distance. Percy rode toward Athens in wonder, as he went in search of the princess who never smiled.

**Well how was that? I can tell you guys now, unless I get over 3 reviews, this story will be postponed so I can work on present and future ideas. Hope you liked it! Please Read and Review!**

**Please vote on my pole! Which story would you like to see from me soon? They're all PJO options so please vote. Before, I didn't have enough votes to really make a decision so that's why I posted this.**

**If you want to check out more of my stories, I suggest 'For Freedom' and 'Here Comes Goodbye', they're the only stories I have my heart set on right now. Note: 'Here Comes Goodbye' is based off the song "Here Comes Goodbye" by Rascal Flatts and it's the only story I finished. **

**Samantha's Library.**


	2. Chapter 2 The Start of A Mission

**Welcome back! Okay 3-4 reviews was all I'd thought I'd get if I got any reviews at all, but 17?! It's nice to know this story is loved. Thank guys! Please continue to review. **

**Just to let you guys know, if I do post, I will be posting on weekends. I just thought I should let you know, I figured it would ease a little tension to actually have an idea on when you're going to get the next chapter. Also it works out for me as well, seeing as the weekends are the only days I get inspiration. Thanks for understanding!**

**Here's chapter 2, Enjoy!**

Atlantis

Percy felt the wind brush through his messy hair as he rode off on Blackjack. Most people would probably think him to be a fool for looking for a girl he had never met, whom of which is also the daughter of his father's enemy, and a princess; in fact they may actually call him insane. Walking into enemy territory, as a prince, alone, with nothing but a sword and quiver of arrows on your back, was like handing the enemy free bait and saying "Here, I surrender." It was just…stupid.

But could you blame him? His father had gone into hyperactive-overprotective-father-mode as soon as the squire gave word that the Athens may try to kidnap his beloved son to win the war, which by the way was like three years ago, and no one had even merely succeeded in _trying_ to do this sense then. He was under house-arrest by his guards most of his time, the only time he ever really got any free-time was when he rode his horse, and even then he still wasn't free, they'd thought up the perfect path for Blackjack to run and for Percy to stay safe, with guards at every corner. He was getting tired of it! He needed an adventure, he needed to show his father he wasn't a kid and that he could take care of himself.

And even if he had to ram his own guards, he was going to do it! After he'd left the stables it hadn't been long before the guards tracked him down and pursued. Grover was never one to keep secrets for long, he kind breaks under pressure, and Percy knew it wasn't easy when someone held a sword to your throat, so he didn't blame his cowardly friend. Some of the guards, riding horseback, rode up in front of him to block his path. Percy yanked Blackjack's rains and made a sharp turn to get away. Big mistake.

By doing this he gave the other couple guards a chance to ride up alongside him, close, trapping him easily. "Your highness?" one of them said. "I must insist you stop this foolishness now and return home." Percy glared at him, thinking, _No way! Not in a million years!_

"Sorry, but no can do." He replied with a sly smile. An idea formed into his head and he gripped Blackjack's rains tighter. _Maybe I'm not so trapped after all,_ he thought with a smile. He grinned ever so evilly at the guards and pulled back on the rains, he then fell back behind the guards and turned Blackjack 180 degrees to the left, riding off in a completely different direction. "Ha!" he cried out in victory.

Now all Percy had to do was get past the castle gates before the guards could catch him. Piece of cake, right? Apparently not. The guards just _had_ to gain on him again. "Your highness! By your father's decree I order you to stop!" he yelled. Percy couldn't believe he had the nerve to pull that trick on him.

"Oh yeah?" he replied. "Well by _my_ decree, I order _you_ to stop!" The guards slowed their pace considerably, obviously they hadn't given his word in all of this much thought. They couldn't seem to make up their minds, Percy liked to imagine his voice and his father's voice in their heads arguing. "I can't believe that worked." He told himself. He spoke too soon because the guards had chosen a side, and it was Poseidon's. "Great!" Percy murmured. But it didn't matter now anyway, seeing as he was almost to the gate. "Yes!" he cried as Blackjack slipped his head through the gates.

Percy looked back to see the guards stop in their tracks and he smiled. "I can assure you, Prince Perseus…" one of them yelled. "…Wherever may you go, your father will find you!" with that the guard pointed at one of his companions and then at Percy saying something like, "Follow him and don't let him leave your sights." So one man followed Percy, well the others headed back to the castle to receive new orders.

Something that guard said puzzled Percy. _Wherever I may go? _They didn't know where he was going? So Grover kept something secret after all! _Thanks man, _Percy thought. Now things were starting to get easier, all he had to do was loose one guard. Percy ducked into the trees and gained speed in the forest, the guard fell behind, not able to see the prince through all the soggy growth. Percy smiled and soon the guard could no longer be seen. Percy turned to look ahead.

Now it was off to Athens.

…..o0o…..

Percy eased up on the rains as it had started getting darker in the forest, and Blackjack started growing tired. Percy knew that night hadn't fallen upon him yet, he could see small rays of the sun through the trees. The branches were just thick and piled on top of each other, that's why it was dark. It was actually kind of creepy, with the whistling of the wind, the crumpling of the leaves, the talk of animals.

Percy decided to ignore it and thought about this supposed princess who never smiled. It was actually quite intriguing to think about, does not having a smile mean you're never happy? How does she show her true feelings? What's it like not to smile? Does keeping your mouth in the same position hurt? All these questions and more prickled Percy's mind. He was excited to have them answered.

Then Percy heard something. It was low quiet cooing that slowly turned into loud and violent cooing. Percy jumped a little on Blackjack, startled. The horse expressed his discomfort by letting out a loud snort and Percy rubbed his neck. "Sorry buddy." he whispered. Percy's ears sharpened with the sound of that cooing and he turned up his head to see an owl sitting atop a branch, it extended its wings and stretched its talons as if prepared to attack.

Now Percy had never really like owls. Not just because they were Athens' symbol, but because he'd once had a horrible nightmare about an owl attacking him as a child, since then owls have terrified him. This owl looked as though it was ready to pull that dream into reality. The owl made a dive and Percy ducked his head, but the owl flew past him and snatched up a rodent from the ground. The poor little mouse squeaked in agony as the predator dung its talons in its fragile body, suffocating the rodent in midflight. _Poor guy…_ Percy thought as the owl flew back to its branch to feast on its meal.

Percy turned his head away from that scene just so he wouldn't have to see it. A couple of hours later, night actually _had_ fallen upon him and Blackjack was getting tired and hungry, so Percy stopped to feed him and himself. Percy had had some sense in him to grab a meal before running off into the world. With effort Percy managed to pull a campfire together, he leaned back against a tree and Blackjack lay beside him. It wasn't long before Percy put out the fire and found sleep.

The next morning Percy awoke to the crunching of leaves, on impulse he grabbed his sword and jumped up to face what was coming. Percy realized that if a creature big enough and fast enough was heading towards him, a sword probably wasn't going to cut it **(A/N: No pun intended)**, so he sheathed his sword and picked up his bow and grabbed an arrow from the quiver he had now slung on his back. He really had hoped he wouldn't have to use it, for Percy was a terrible shot. But shooting an arrow would probably slow the beast if not kill it, and a sword was to slow and to long, it could easily have been turned back on him.

There was a rustling in the bushes and the surprised face of a boy appeared in front of him. "Don't shoot!" he cried holding his hands up in defense. Percy examined him, he didn't look armed (yet), or like a threat at all for that matter. The boy had blonde hair and sky blue eyes, by the looks of his muscles he was quite strong, he had that glint of persistence in his eyes and he was further covering his face in defense. He was maybe only a year younger then Percy. Percy was just thinking of putting down his bow when he spotted the knife strapped to the boy's side, the boy was slowly reaching for it, hoping Percy wouldn't notice.

"Who are you?" Percy demanded pulling back his arrow on the bow further. The boy stopped reaching for his weapon instantly, spotting Percy's warning, but despite the boy's determination not to be harmed, he was actually pretty brave.

"I could ask you the same question." He threw back. Percy's eyes shot from the boy's feet to his head, he didn't look like a quitter. Percy lowered his bow and arrow, but kept it armed, in case the boy was to try anything.

"I asked first." He said calmly. The boy looked prepared to answer when a girl appeared.

"Ah, there you are Jason!" she cried. "Why'd you run off like that?! You could have…gotten…yourself-" her speech slowed when she saw Percy, she gave him the quick eye over and her eyes spotted his armed bow, the panic in her eyes increased. She turned to the boy, Jason, with a hesitant look. "Who's your friend?" she asked. Percy took this time to examine her too, she had black hair like his except her had more of a blue tint to it, she had sky blue eyes like the boy's, from the looks of her she was quite alert, and strong, and she gave Percy that chilling feeling. She was probably four-five years older than Percy.

"That's just it," Jason replied, glaring at Percy. "I don't know." The girl turned to Percy and gave him this piercing glare, that sent Percy's heart crawling up his throat to get away, but he showed her no fear. He had this feeling that if he didn't tell her something, he was probably going to suffer for it in the future, so he disarmed his bow and set the arrow back in its quiver. Jason looked almost about ready to laugh, clearly he'd seen plenty of strangers do the same, but Jason held it in.

"I'm Percy." He introduced, carefully. "You are?"

"Thalia." She replied roughly, never ceasing her glare. Clearly, just like Percy, she was careful not to reveal her whole name. Thalia turned to Jason, "How'd you get the _pleasure_ of meeting _Percy_?" she glared at Percy at his name and the word pleasure.

"I was just coming past the bushes to find him holding an arrow to my face." Jason answered. Thalia shot Percy a glare so deadly that if looks could murder (yeah he meant _murder_), he'd be a puddle of blood on the ground and no one would ever know who did it.

"I thought he was an animal." Percy defended. Thalia looked between Percy and Jason and did something Percy would have never, ever saw coming, she laughed.

"Jason gets a little riled up sometimes, but animal may be going a bit too far." She said, messing with Jason's hair. Jason pouted like a little boy and frowned. Thalia's smiled faded but at least she wasn't mad anymore. "Tell me Percy, what brings you to our woods?"

"_Your_ woods?" Percy asked. Thalia smiled, like in the evil type way, as two guards appeared.

"I am Princess Thalia of the kingdom of Electris," she fully introduced. "This is my brother Prince Jason," she pointed to Jason. "And you, Percy, are trespassing on Electrogonian territory!" Percy gulped, because those guards gave him death glares to rival Thalia's.

**(A/N: Does this feel like a commercial moment to you guys too? Don't worry, it doesn't stop here)**

Percy was panicking. Should he tell them who he was and get an easy ticket out of here or get a tour of the dungeon? The Electrogonians may have been allies with Athens but they had no war with Atlantis, they had nothing to fight about, as easy as that, Atlantis and Electris were allies too. Percy mentally smacked himself when he realized how stupid a question that was. He sighed. The guards pointed spears at his chest and his decision was final.

"I am Prince Perseus of the kingdom of Atlantis." He announced. The guards pulled away their spears and kneeled with a quick apology before standing up again. Jason's jaw dropped, he was, quite obviously, not expecting that. Thalia's smile disappeared and her expression remained unreadable. She then punched his arm, hard, but that was only a tip of the iceberg and Percy knew it.

"Why didn't you just say that in the first place?!" she cried.

"Because I didn't know who you were." Percy pointed out, rubbing his arm. Thalia, despite being humiliated by that obvious fact, did not show embarrassment.

"What are you doing here?" she asked, changing the subject.

"It's complicated." Percy told her. Thalia glared at him, not amused.

"Try me." She dared. Percy gulped again and Jason gave him a look saying, _tell her if you want to live!_ He'd probably had experienced this first hand. Percy sighed, again.

"I've come seeking a princess who's never smiled." Percy answered. "I'm headed for Athens." Jason's jaw dropped again, the guards dropped their spears before quickly picking them up again. Thalia closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Percy had the feeling she was trying hard not to smack him. When she opened her eyes her expression was emotionless.

"If this is true," she said, setting a hand on Percy's shoulder. "Then you are a mad man, Perseus."

**How was that? Getting pretty deep huh? Some of this just flew out of me, I hadn't actually seen it coming myself. Hope you enjoyed it! Please Read and Review!**

**Please take a minute to go to my profile, to my pole, and vote on which story you'd like to see from me next. Your votes are much appreciated! Thanks guys!**

**Samantha's Library.**


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